Financial Problems Cause Abrupt Closure Of Nooksack River Casino
The casino industry in the United States has been through a rough time during the last 2 years as casinos all across the country have found it difficult to generate a consistent amount of revenue.
Atlantic City had four out of its twelve casinos shutdown in 2014 including the Showboat Atlantic City casino resort and the remaining eight casinos are continuing to have a tough time.
The Nooksack River Casino in Washington suddenly decided to shutdown its operations and took everyone by surprise. The casino was promoting a special buffet for New Year’s Eve on its official website and the sudden decision to shutdown operations came out of the blue.
The casino is run by the Nooksack Indian Tribe who also operate other casinos in the state. Bob Kelly the tribal chairman did not release any statement but it is believed that the casino faced a number of financial challenges and was forced to make a decision to shutdown its operations for good.
Tribes depend heavily on the casino industry to generate revenue and employment for tribal members but the Nooksack Indian Tribe has battled financial problems for a number of years and had accumulated huge amounts of loans that they were struggling to repay. The tribe is also battling a number of lawsuits filed by these lenders and earlier this year the tribal chairman did briefly discuss the possibility of shutting down the casino but no decision was taken.
The Nooksack River Casino was the first casino that the tribe opened in Washington and was a flagship casino for the tribe. When an initial discussion on shutting down the casino was raised, it was quickly put to rest as there was a lot of opposition from members and the tribal council decided against closing the casino. This Nooksack is not the first tribal casino to close in the state as the Skokomish tribal casino was closed in 2009 when the Indian gaming industry went through a recession and the Lummi casino also shutdown in 1997 as competition from casinos in Canada caused a decline in customers and gambling revenue.
In a statement, Ron Allen, the chairman of the Washington Indian Gaming Association, said
It is a tough call for them, as it employed a lot of Nooksack citizens. But it was just a simple business decision
Allen stated that the tribe’s Northwood Casino in Lynden has the advantage of being located close to the Canadian border and can capitalize from attracting Canadian gamblers and building a bigger database of players.
